Princess Haiku is a literary collage of poetry, prose, photography, classical music, dance and book reviews, written in the tradition of a poetic memoir.

Friday, November 21, 2014

Study of a Water Lily

The water lily is perhaps the most
poetic flower that exists and is known as Nymphaea; an aquatic plant in the
family Nymphaeaceae. They are opulent with iridescent colors and dream their
hours away in their watery gardens. Some water lilies open under reflected
sunlight and sink beneath the water at twilight, while other species such as
the Egyptian white water lily seek moonlight. Should you be so fortunate as to
view one in perfect bloom it will intoxicate you with its bewitching beauty and
leave an indelible watery impression of the other world upon you.

The water lily was inspired by the
nymphs of Greek and Latin mythology and the lotus often appears in Hindu and
Buddhist stories as well. Terra-cotta plaques from the 12th century
depict the goddess Asherah holding two lotus blossoms. Ivory panels from. Long
ago show the god Horus seated on a lotus blossom. The sacredness of the flower
is illustrated by its frequent reference to Buddha. When Buddha walked the
earth he left lotuses in his trail instead of footprints. The phrase "Om mani padme hum," which used in
meditation means "the jewel in the lotus" refers to the Buddha or to
the mystical union of male and female energies.

The water lily studies that
I am presenting in this series were captured at the: UC Botanical Garden, San
Francisco Botanical Garden and the Pool of Enchantment outside of the De Young
Museum in 2014.

Red lotus

This symbolizes the original
nature of the heart (hrdaya). It is the lotus of love, compassion,
passion, activity and all the qualities of the heart. It is the lotus of
Avalokitesvara.

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About Me

Diane Dehler is a photographer and poet. Her flower photography has been featured on Haiga online and she has several thousand followers on facebook. Her multi-media video poem, "The Lotus" has received 3000+ views on youtube. As a poet she is known for her lyricism and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and was a finalist for the Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Prizes 2016. She received a degree from the Creative Writing Program at San Francisco State University, receiving the Outstanding Student of the Year Award. She is an English Language poet in the international literary scene and; has been published in numerous poetry journals and three anthologies. Mostly recently she has published in, The Artemis Review, Cultural Weekly, Edgar Allan Poet, The Mas Tequila Review, The Criterion: An International Journal in English, Munyori Literary Review, The Taj Mahal Review, Truck, Deepwater Literary Journal, Moonbathing: A Journal of Women’s Tanka, Lummox Journal and poeticdiversity.